


Three Truths

by EsseR3xinaLives



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: #getwellsoonmina, Drabble, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 19:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20196880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsseR3xinaLives/pseuds/EsseR3xinaLives
Summary: Mina wants to get back on stage and Nayeon has advice to help her get there.





	Three Truths

**Author's Note:**

> So, as someone who struggles with anxiety I wanted to show my support for Mina, but didn't exactly know how to do that, but after rewatching Sixteen I got this idea. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy and I hope the best for Mina because she deserves it.

She had to get better.

She sat in the corner of the dance studio, pulling on the ribbons of her pointe shoes just a little too tightly as she tried to calm the tension that was coursing through her but felt like was continually being injected into her bloodstream. She forgot how many mirrors were there, acting like millions of eyes that would watch her every move, judging her every gesture, criticizing her every expression as she gave a sharp inhale.

Was she supposed to breath there? How dare she breath there! But she didn’t want to drown in the music.

What if someday it finally suffocated her?

Stop.

Breathe.

They were just mirrors. Mirrors in an empty studio with no one to watch but herself.

But what about her own eyes' judgment?

She released a grunt as she roughly tied her pointe shoes. She’ll just have to close her eyes.

Tears trickled down as she furiously wiped them away. She would be okay. Things would get back to normal. She’d just have to get used to performing in front of people again.

Even if she simply had to do it one person at a time.

She exhaled sharply, forcing all the air out of her before she rose up to her feet and got the classical music to play as she moved to get into position. She knew she could do this.

Which is why the tears doubled when she crumpled to the floor.

She couldn't even start! She was immediately overwhelmed by the anticipated the critiques she'd have of herself if she'd dared to. No matter how many times she had danced that routine in the past, it didn’t feel right anymore. She felt forced, unnatural.

She started to feel fake.

She heard the door to the studio open as she released a sigh.

“<I told you I’d be there in a minute.>”

Silence settled over Mina and the newcomer before the woman who had just entered shrugged. “I may not know that much Japanese, but I’m pretty sure you _didn't_ just say that you’re happy to see me.”

Mina turned quickly to see a bittersweet smile on Nayeon before she hugged her knees tighter. “Sorry unnie. I thought you were Sana.”

“I should’ve guessed as much,” Nayeon answered as she took a seat next to Mina. “Would you like to translate it for me?”

“I could, but I have a feeling you wouldn’t listen even if I said it in Korean for you.”

“How dare you, I’m your unnie,” Nayeon joked as she pushed Mina lightly, causing the Japanese woman to giggle in response. The laughter died shortly but the light atmosphere lingered in the air as they both sat next to each other. Mina loved the comfort that would come in the quiet of simply sitting with one of her band members, basking in each other’s presence as if there were no problems they had to worry about.

Mina knew it wouldn’t last.

“You need to be resting Mina.”

She released a sound that was a mixture of a groan and a sigh. “I don’t need rest, I need to get better.”

“You _are_ getting better,” Nayeon answered firmly. “After all, you’ve recorded in the TDOONG series with Jihyo and Tzuyu and you joined us in the photo shoot for ‘Allure’ and the commercial shoot for ‘Estee Lauder.’”

“But that’s all recording,” Mina answered quietly, pulling her legs tighter. “I still haven’t done anything with dancing or singing since June, and whenever I try I freeze. My body feels too stiff or my voice just isn't there and I just don’t understand…”

Tears threatened to leak out of Mina as she shook her head. “I just don’t understand what’s wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you Min-”

“How can you say that?!” Mina’s gaze turned to show Nayeon her betrayed expression as her fingers dug into her leg. “How can you say there’s nothing wrong with me?! I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t live like this! Dancing and singing is all I’ve ever wanted to do and now…”

She paused as she wiped her eyes before a soft sniffle escaped her.

“What if I can never go back on stage again?”

“You’ll make it back Mina.”

“But how do you know?!”

Their eyes were locked as Mina’s tear-stained onyx gazed into Nayeon’s own before the elder eventually turned away.

“Have you heard the saying, ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’?”

“Of course I have Nayeon,” Mina sighed as she leaned back against the mirror. “There’s a whole song about it out in America.”

“I hated that saying.”

Mina gave a skeptical look as her eyes narrowed. “Then why bring it up?”

“Because,” Nayeon explained, gaze remaining straight ahead at the equipment before them. “I always thought that, if that saying were true, then I wouldn’t have as many… clumsy moments...”

Mina’s eyes widened as they immediately darted towards Nayeon’s left leg before she forced them back into her lap. “Nayeon I… you don’t have to talk about this.”

“I know,” Nayeon’s soft voice resonated. “But I think it’ll help you if you listen.”

Mina moved to respond, but she had nothing to say. She couldn’t think of a way to turn down the offer in a way that wouldn’t come off as rude or disinterested. So instead she gave a simple nod as she turned her attention towards the unnie.

“You already know that the accident was bad, the fact it still affects me now should say as much, but there was a time when no one was sure if I’d be able to walk again.”

She shook her head as a humorless laugh escaped her. “I had thoughts that that would be it. That I would need a cane or a wheelchair for the rest of my life, never being able to walk or dance again because of some freak accident I had no control over. It all felt so unfair, but people kept telling me that things would get better.”

She gave a shrug as she turned her gaze to the ceiling. “Eventually, I was able to walk. I was even able to walk without the assistance of a cane, but the pain was still there and my balance was still off. I felt betrayed. If things were supposed to get better, then why was it still an issue for me?”

She turned her gaze towards Mina to lock onto her tentative eyes. “I don’t know when it happened, but at some point I decided that what didn’t kill me, didn’t necessarily make me stronger. And when that realization hit me I had to come up with something else to help me believe I’d get better, so I came up with these three truths.”

Mina tilted her head, curiosity overwhelming her as she watched Nayeon’s expressions. “What truths would those be?”

A bittersweet smile crossed Nayeon’s lips as she brought up one finger. “The first truth is that I will hurt. And no, this isn’t specifically about my accident, but it’s related. As long as I’m alive I run the risk of getting hurt, whether it’s because I mess up a dance, fall down the stairs, someone breaks my heart or says something mean. I'm sure you get the point. But life necessarily brings pain to it. It’s inevitable and inescapable, and everyone experiences some form of suffering in their lifetime. That's just the way life is.”

Mina nodded, letting Nayeon know that she understood the first truth as the elder lifted another finger. “The second truth I know is that I will heal.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because of all the ways I can die there’s only one thing that’ll kill me,” Nayeon said with a serious face. “Knowing that I can only die once made it obvious that only one thing will kill me, and until that one thing finds me nothing else will. Naturally, if I’m not dying from whatever caused my hurt, then I have to be healing from it.”

Mina pondered that one for a moment, thinking that Nayeon might have gone a little overboard, but it felt right. It felt a little _empowering._ If only one thing would kill her than she _must_ naturally overcome anything else that got thrown her way. It made enough sense.

“So then what’s the third truth?”

Nayeon offered a full smile as she turned her gaze back to Mina. “The third truth is that I will move on.”

Mina tilted her head as Nayeon continued her explanation. “It doesn’t matter what hurt I endure, as long as I heal from it I will move on. Sure, there may still be scars or soreness or some other reminder that the hurt was there, but that doesn’t mean the hurt takes over. It doesn’t mean that that hurt will stop me from living my life the way I choose to live it.”

She placed a hand on Mina’s shoulder as Mina's gaze flickered between the hand and Nayeon’s eyes.

“I know you’re hurting right now Mina, but that hurt won’t take over you. You’re going to recover, and you’re going to join us on stage again. I promise you, you will.”

Tears overwhelmed Mina’s eyes as she hugged Nayeon tightly, crying into her unnie’s shoulder as she let all the hurt flow out of her, sharing the hurt with Nayeon who rubbed her back and whispered soothing consolations. She was tempted to remain in those arms forever, finding a sense of peace despite all the tears.

But she knew she couldn’t claim to hurt for too long. She'd have to move on.

She pulled back, wiping her eyes as she gave Nayeon a bleary smile. “Thank you, Nayeon unnie.”

“Anytime,” Nayeon responded cheerily as she moved to get up. “Anyways, it’s getting late-”

“Wait!”

Mina snatched Nayeon’s wrist as the elder looked down at Mina. “Is everything okay?”

“I…” Mina paused, she felt so frozen, wanting to ask something that felt so unthinkable in her mind, but she needed to give it a try.

“Can… will you watch me dance?”

“Hm?”

“It’s just…” Mina paused as she retreated the hand to her lap. “I think that if I can get used to an audience again it’ll help, but if you don’t want to…”

“And miss out on a private performance by _the_ Myoui Mina?” Nayeon lifted her hand to her mouth in mock surprise at the statement. “How could I dare pass up such an opportunity?”

A soft laugh escaped Mina as Nayeon helped pull her up before finding a place for her to sit and watch as Mina began her ballet routine.

Mina moved effortlessly, although she failed to suppress the smile that’d creep up on her when she’d hear Nayeon’s ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ whenever she’d strike a pose or perform a leap.

It reminded her of when they were a team on _Sixteen_.

Mina was stressed then, she was scared. She was only a trainee of ten months working with two members who were lined up to debut with 6Mix while she was still struggling to learn Korean. She believed that she must’ve been holding them back, but the others never thought less of her, never questioned why she was there as such a recent trainee or resented her for having the opportunity to debut in so short a time.

They helped her heal.

Looking back on those days, they were just the same as now. The same cycle of hurting, of healing, of moving forward because she wasn’t going to let those struggles hold her back forever and this one wouldn't either. She would get there, returning to the stage with the members she loves as she gets to hear the cheers of the crowd. She would get to see the lights like stars in the audience that would shine so brightly for them. She would get to hold her members’ hands as they did their final bow for the evening.

She would get there.

But right now, she was healing, dancing for the audience of one as her body naturally flowed to the sway of the music. It wasn’t immediate, healing never was, but she finally found it in herself to believe that she would make it on the stage.

After all, Nayeon had guaranteed it.

And she wouldn't doubt Nayeon's word for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> The three truths I had Nayeon state was something I came up with when I was struggling with major depression and anxiety and it helps me a bit, hopefully others can find some comfort in it. Also, I wanted to test how using parenthesis and italics within quotations for non-shared languages. I want to have instances of language barriers in some of my later fics but I'm exploring different ways to signify that (since I barely know Korean and learning Japanese on top of that for ficing purposes feels like a lot) so let me know what you think of that. Anyways, thanks so much for reading and make sure to give Mina tons of support!


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